Keeping his gaze fixed overhead, he asked, “What do you plan to do withMiraif you find the diary first?”
A long silence followed, and he almost turned to check if she was still awake. But even with Cap as a buffer, he didn’t trust himself. He was too aware of her presence mere inches away.
“I want to turn her into a bookstore.” When she finally spoke, her voice tiptoed across the comforter, tentative and uncertain, as if she wasn’t quite sure she should trust him with her dream.
At her confession, his chest swelled with a soul-filling surge of happiness. She’d finally get her bookstore. And an even better one than he’d ever imagined.
“It’s probably a silly idea,” she added when he didn’t respond right away.
“It’s a brilliant idea. Beyond brilliant. It’s unique. Creative. Special. People will come from miles away to see something like that.” His excitement grew as ideas rolled in, one on top of the other. “You could even hold themed sailing charters.Moby Dick–inspired whale watching tours.Treasure Island–themed trips to the Tanti Islands off the coast of Blessings Bay.”
Sage laughed softly.
“What?” he asked. “Dumb ideas?”
“No, I love them. It’s like you’ve been thinking about this longer than I have.”
He smiled in the darkness. He’d managed countless businesses over the years, but none had thrilled him as much as this one. “Tell me more about your business plan. I want to hear all the details.”
Flynn wasn’t sure how long they talked, but all their brainstorming must’ve bored Cap because he abandoned them for the foot of the bed. Normally, Flynn would have agreed with him. Generally speaking, shop talk bored him to tears, too. But something about Sage’s sailing bookshop sparked his interest in a way nothing else had before. And as he listened to all her ingenious plans, he’d never been prouder of anyone in his life. He only wished he could be a part of it.
As if the thought had just occurred to her, Sage added, “Please don’t tell your mom any of this. I don’t need her making things harder for me.”
Flynn winced, but she had a valid point. “I’m sorry about how she’s treated you. I thought after we stopped dating, she’d finally let up. Then, she opened her ridiculous bookstore. She could’ve opened a clothing boutique or sold snooty home decor. Anything other than books. It felt like she did it just to spite you.” He’d never fully forgiven his mother for the way she’d treated Sage. Or understood why she’d been so vindictive even after they split. Squelching his rising resentment with a cleansing breath, he added, “I begged her to leave you alone and just let you be happy.”
Another long silence stretched between them, punctuated by the rain and Cap’s rhythmic snores.
Finally, Sage murmured, “I always suspected your mother’s bookstore was a personal slight. I just didn’t want to believe it.” A strange laugh escaped her lips, soft and strangled by sadness. The mournful sound sliced all the way to his soul. “Honestly, I could’ve saved her the hassle. After losing Kevin, then you,happywasn’t really an option for me anymore.”
Her words didn’t carry any bitterness or blame. Only raw, unfiltered heartbreak. And they hit him with all the force of a fatal blow.
For ten years, he’d lived with guilt and remorse over the way he’d ended things between them. He’d punished himself in countless ways and wouldn’t let himself off the hook with excuses or rationalizations.
But he’d never done the one thing that mattered the most.
The one thing he should’ve done a decade ago.
He’d never apologized.
Chapter 24
SAGE
Sage wipeda stray tear from her eye before it dampened her pillow, thankful Flynn couldn’t see her cry in the dark.
She’d imagined what it would be like to have this conversation with Flynn countless times, to finally confront him for leaving her without warning or explanation. But now that she stood on the precipice, with an open invitation to speak her mind, she couldn’t find the words.
As she lay cloaked in the protective shadows of night, thetap, tap, tapof soothing raindrops lured her into the quiet corners of her subconscious, where she had no choice but to be self-aware.
A long-suppressed truth slipped into her thoughts. A truth her heart had always known.
She still loved Flynn Cahill.
Despite a decade of practiced denial, she couldn’t lie to herself anymore.
Tonight—as they shared pieces of their lives with each other—a floodgate opened, unleashing a deluge of emotions.
But it was more than old feelings flooding to the surface. So much more.
